Liberty
by twilightwonderer
Summary: Sequel to my other fic, 'Trapped'. 'Liberty' follows the lives of Rita, Iain, a little boy named Henry and one other little person! Fluff?
1. Chapter 1

**_A/N:_** You will need to read my other fic, 'Trapped', before this one, as this is a sequel to this and follows directly on from that one. To find this just change out the last part of the URL with this: /s/11998868/1/Trapped.

 _ **Liberty: "The quality or state of being free"**_

"Wh- what" Iain stuttered eventually,

"I'm pregnant" Rita repeated,

"You- You're pregnant?" Iain asked,

"Yes," Rita confirmed slightly agitated. once again there was silence. " Iain, say something. Please." Rita begged. she stood up and put on a hoodie that previously lay discarded on the back of the sofa. With shaking hands, she wrapped it tightly around herself.

"I-I don't know what to say" he confessed " it's a bit of a shock, to be honest"

"Tell me about it," Rita agreed, her agitation growing. Almost suddenly she spoke again, "It's definitely yours" she blurted.

Iain looked up, a confused expression was plastered on his face. he stood up to join Rita and went to reach his hands to grip her shoulders reassuringly, however, he soon retracted them when he saw her flinch and back away from him in fear. He swore he heard a faint whisper, "No, please don't".

In that moment Rita's reaction shocked him more than her announcement. Once again, however, this time much slower than before, he reached his hands back towards Rita's shoulders. "Hey!" He said gently, "I'm not going to hurt you Reets, you know I'd never do that." He told her, the pain of her thinking that he would harm her evident in his tone. He eventually felt Rita relax into his gentle grasp.

"I know" She nodded " I'm sorry"

"You've got nothing to be sorry for, babe, do you understand? Nothing"

"Nothing?" Rita questioned,

"Nothing" Iain reiterated as he planted a kiss on Rita's lips, "I'm going to be a Dad!" he exclaimed before literally sweeping Rita off her feet and spinning her round.

"Iain put me down, you goon" Rita laughed to which Iain shook his head. " I swear to God, if you don't put me down"

"You'll what?" he teased.

"Just put me down, you git!"

" Okay, Okay" He retracted and placed her back on the ground gently.

"So you're happy then?" Rita broke the silence that had formed.

"I can't believe it, how many?" He was cut off.

" 8, 8 weeks" She interrupted.

"How long have you known?" He asked.

"A week" Rita confessed "I just didn't know how you'd react and I couldn't find the right time and we never really said if we were actually together and" She rushed to explain.  
"Hey, don't worry about it" Iain calmed her,

"But I should have told you sooner" She objected,

"It's fine"

"But"

"Don't worry Reets" he told her before sitting down on the sofa, he held out his hand to her. "Come here". Rita took his hand and sat down on his lap, her back was leaning against the arm of the sofa, her feet were buried in the cushions opposite them. " I love you so much!" he told her as he played with her hand, "both of you."

"I love you too" She replied, a tear crept down her cheek, but was interrupted by the pad of Iain's thump as he used it to wipe it away.

Sensing there was more to Rita's upset state, Iain gentle inquired, "Talk to me". Rita took a deep breath and rested her head on his shoulder. He raised his hand to meet her head, soothingly, he ran his fingers through her blonde hair, "Tell me what's going on up there". He waited patiently for her to open up.

"I'm just glad you're happy and not mad at me"

"Why would I be mad?" He asked, though part of him already knew the answer.

Rita took a shaky breath, her voice wavered as she explained, "This. This isn't my first pregnancy. I was pregnant before, when I was with Mark. He wasn't happy with it, he didn't want to have kids, and he made sure that he didn't"

"He made you get an abortion?" Iain half exclaimed, half guessed.

"Something like that" Rita said sadly, not wanting to go into any more detail.

Iain took a sharp breath. "I swear to God, that man, or rather pathetic excuse for a man, shouldn't even be able to walk the face of the Earth let alone breathe!" He said, his tone fully explaining that he wouldn't be held responsible for his actions the next time he saw Mark. He looked over at his girlfriend, and he swore that he saw a smile jump across Rita's mouth. "It's your choice you know, if you want to have it," Iain told her. " whatever you decide, I'm with you 100%, ok"

"I'm keeping it" She informed him

"Good, I'm glad" Iain commented as he wrapped his arms around his girlfriend and held her close. "We're going to be a family" Rita mumbled her agreement, enjoying the embrace. "You, me, the baby"

"Henry?" Rita added with a questioned tone, not forgetting the little boy whom they had just spent the, albeit, terrifying day with.

"Yeah?" Iain questioned in return

"Yeah, if we can, sure, why not"

And with that, the silence returned.

 **A/N (2):** So, here is the promised Sequel to Trapped. Did it meet expectations? Is it any good? Let me know by leaving a review. Also, let me know what type of stuff you would like me to do with this story, or rather, the characters, I have only part written it, so it has potential to go anywhere at the moment!

Updates for this fic will be posted on Monday's, (except when I am away at the end of August) and I hope to keep it that way when I return to college in September, however, this could change, so no promises there.

Anyway, thanks for reading.

Love, Nat X


	2. Chapter 2

**So this chapter is set a couple of days after the last, I just wanted to clear that up a bit before I began.**

"Hi there, can I help you?" A brown haired receptionist greeted as Iain and Rita entered the stone office building. The couple walked over to the desk before Rita responded.

"Hi, I think you can actually. We're looking for a Karen Smith" Rita informed her, "We have an appointment"

"That's fine. Can I take your names please?" The receptionist asked tapping away on her computer keyboard.

"Rita Freeman and Iain Dean" She informed, looking over to the nervous man and taking his hand in hers.

"So, you're looking to adopt then?" The woman asked.

Iain nodded, "mmhm"

The woman smiled, "It's nice to meet you both, we've not had many couples apply for adoption this year, it's just great to know that people are still considering it, I mean there are some great kids out there who just need a nurturing environment to grow. Anyway, I'm rambling now, aren't I? Erm, just take a seat, Karen will be along shortly" The receptionist waved her hand over to a collection of chairs in the corner as an indication of where to go.

"Okay, Thank you," Rita said with a nod.

The pair sat down on a black leather sofa, Iain sighed nervously, his leg shaking.

"It'll be ok Iain, calm down and relax babe," Rita said as she traced circles on the back of his hand with her thumb.

"I hope so" Iain responded, "I just hope they'll say yes to us, I just want to help this kid so much"

"I know babe, and we're trying, that's all that matter hey, we're doing our best, there's nothing more we can do"

Iain nodded, "I guess"

Rita continued, "And, as much as I hope they don't, if they do say no, then we can still be there for him okay? It'll just have to be in a different way"

Taking another shaky breath Iain agreed, "Okay"

Another couple of minutes passed before their names were called by a red-haired woman, the woman in question was stood by the doorway that led to a small room with a basic wooden table and matching chairs. The room was pretty gloomy in appearance, but the pair entered the room and took a seat, their moods the complete opposite to their surroundings. The red-haired woman sat down opposite Rita and Iain, shaking their hands, she introduced herself.

"Good Morning, My name's Karen Smith, we spoke on the phone. Sorry I am late, I got held up at a staff meeting"

Rita returned the enthusiastic greeting. "Don't worry, it's no different for us in Health Care either"

"What do you both do then?" Karen asked, jumping straight into her list of questions.

"I'm the Clinical Nurse Manager at Holby ED, and my partner, Iain, is currently in charge of the Holby Trust's Emergency Response Team," Rita told her.

"So, I can definitely confirm that you both have first aid training then?" Karen joked.

"I guess so" Iain replied with a smile

"So, from what I gathered from our phone call earlier is you are both looking to adopt then?"

Iain nodded as did Rita.

"Erm, we kind of have someone in mind" Iain began,

"Okay, go on," Karen said,

"Well, we were both involved in the Holby Hospital Fire and well..." Iain continued before he was interrupted by Karen.

"Wait, are you too the ones that were trapped with our Henry?"

"Yes" Rita replied,

"What a small world hey? I do want to thank you though for what you did, Henry has not stopped talking about you both since."

"Well that's who we have in mind, we would like to see if we could adopt Henry" Iain informed her,

"That's brilliant news!" Karen exclaimed, slightly gob-smacked. "He's a lovely kid, and he's been through so much"

"So it's an option then?" Rita asked,

"Oh my gosh yes! Hang on, let me get my supervisor!" And with that Karen left the room, returning momentarily with a slightly scary looking man who had thinning grey hair and an equally scary looking expression.

"David, these lovely people are the medics that were trapped in the fire with Henry the other day" Karen began to explain,

"Hi there, it's nice to meet you" David shook their hands firmly, "What brings you both here then?"

Rita was about to explain however Karen interjected. "David, they want to adopt Henry!"

"You do?" David asked slightly surprised to which the couple nodded. "My that is brilliant news! Karen go get the application forms" he instructed, Karen leaving the room one more time. "You know, that little boy has been in the system for most of his life, it's just great to see that someone other than ourselves cares so much about him" The man took a seat, "I've got to ask, though, why Henry?"

"I, well, we" Rita corrected herself, "A lot has come to light recently between us, and what happened the other day just solidified it, we want to give a kid a happy home, and that kid for us is Henry, he deserves it, I'm sure you agree"

"He sure does" David responded before continuing his line of questioning, "So are you two married then?"

"No" Iain confessed, worry hitting him that this may affect their chances.

Seeing the worry on Iain's face David responded, "In this situation, I genuinely don't think that it will be an issue, as long as you are both committed to Henry, no matter what happens then I definitely don't see a problem and I don't think the board will either"

"Oh, we are definitely committed to him" Rita confirmed.

"Well obviously we have to go through the proper channels, but I will personally see to it that this case is prioritised. There's the formal paperwork that I'd like you to fill in with Karen today and a home inspection, but other than that, the decision rests on the judge." David informed them, "Do either of you have any concerns or anything like that?"

Iain shook his head before sharing a look with Rita, there was only one thing they were both concerned about. He allowed Rita to respond. "Well, I'm pregnant," Rita said concerned.

"And do you think that will hinder Henry's care at all?" David asked

Rita shook her head, "No, it would never, he would still be cared for and loved all the same"

"Well it's not a problem then, in fact in my opinion it's the complete opposite, this little boy needs a family who is devoted to him but at the same time can provide some distraction from his past and his illness, we did fear, once upon a time, that if he was placed in a unit where it was just him that the constant focus would make matters worse for him" There was a faint knock at the door before it opened and Karen re-entered, a yellow booklet in hand. "Anyway, I'll leave you with Karen to fill out that paperwork then, it was great meeting you both."

And with that, David left the room and they began the task of filling in the booklet, both over the moon with the response they had received the task didn't take long and they soon left the building, they did both have one other task to complete for the day, and that was to visit the ED and inform their colleagues about the upcoming changes...

 **A/N: Please review and let me know what you think but I am currently in two minds on the direction of this story. I am hoping to eventually get to the point where I can post more one-shot type of chapters that centre around the families life but at the same time, I feel as though there are a few things that I need to write first before I get to that point. Anyway, the question is, do you guys want to see the whole process of getting to the point of one-shot chapters or should I go straight to them and fill in the details where appropriate. Please let me know as this is a huge dilemma for me at the moment regarding this story.**

 **Also, on a more personal note, I wanted to confirm that I am MIA from Tumblr atm and the reason for this is because I have been receiving a hell of a lot of very graphic anon hate and I just needed to take a break. I will be logging on shortly to catch-up on the Casualty Character Month, I just felt as though I had to give an explanation for my absence somewhere, and I don't feel ready just yet to do this on Tumblr. I will be back though, definitley, just not today at least.**


	3. Chapter 3

Their hands entwined, Rita and Iain walked into the busy department. Both of them were understandably apprehensive, they were about to announce the exciting changes to two of their co-workers; Connie and Charlie. Though today they would only be announcing one arrival to their family to the whole team, this arrival being the hopeful adoption of Henry, Rita having decided and requesting to keep the pregnancy under wraps until she reached 12 weeks. Looking around, they were both happy to see the smiling face that was approaching them.

"Rita, Iain. I didn't think you were in until Friday, now unless I am wrong and completely losing it, you both still have 2 days of leave left," Charlie began.

"I'm aware, we're actually here for another reason. Do you have a spare moment?" Rita asked nervously.

"Give me 5 minutes and I will," Charlie told them.

Rita nodded, flashing a smile. "Definitely, I just need a word. Do you know if Connie is in today?"

"She is, though she is having an admin day today"

"Ok, erm, would you be able to get her to come to?"

"Okay?" Charlie was concerned, "Are you sure that everything is ok?"

Again, Rita nodded, looking over at Iain, he squeezed her hand reassuringly. The two sharing a smile. "Everything is more than ok!" She told him.

"Is the office ok?" Charlie asked to which Rita and Iain nodded. "Okay, give me 5, I've just got to nip down to the pharmacy and discharge a patient and grab Connie and I'll be with you."

"Okay," Rita responded, the two leading off to the office.

Entering the code for the door, Rita pushed the door open before stepping inside, Iain followed suit, shutting the door closed behind him. Rita let out an apprehensive sigh as Iain took her by the shoulders, placing a kiss on her head.

"It'll be ok Reets" Iain reassured.

Looking up at Iain, she nodded. "I know". Rita walked over to the countertop and grabbed a couple of mugs. "Do you want a drink?"

"Aye, go on then. I'll have whatever you're having" Iain replied,

"I'm only having water, is that ok?"

"That's fine," Iain nodded as he walked over to join Rita before sitting on the empty countertop. Rita filled the mugs with water and handed one to Iain. Both took a drink before Iain set his mug down next to him, he grabbed her spare hand and pulled her closer to him. Now with her back facing Iain, she leant back and relaxed into Iain's arms, which were now wrapped around her shoulders. She was about to speak when there was a knock at the door, the door opened and in walked Connie and Charlie. Charlie entered the room first and laughed, "You know, there are perfectly good chairs in this office guys"

Rita stood up properly before Connie spoke. "So you needed to speak to us?"

"Yeah, I, well, we" Rita stuttered slightly. Iain took her hand in his as a reassuring gesture. "Well I'm going to need to take some time off"

"Okay, when would this be?" Connie asked she sat down on the edge of Rita's desk, Charlie moved so that he was stood next to Connie.

"Well now and in around 6 months too," Rita told them. Both the Clinical Lead and the Nurse not catching onto either of the reasons why.

"And why would that be?" Connie asked, taking natural charge of the conversation.

"Well, me and Iain are hoping to adopt so we both need time off for that, and I'm" Rita paused, Connie and Charlie looked at her reassuringly. "I'm 8 weeks pregnant too!" Rita finished with a smile.

"Rita, that's fantastic news," Charlie said with a smile, "Congratulations"

"I know" Rita responded.

"Congratulations Rita" Connie told her with a genuine smile

"Thank you"

"I'll need you to fill in the paperwork as soon as possible, I'm assuming that you'll be wanting to reduce your hours gradually"

"Yes please"

"We'd need to find someone to take on your role then whilst you are on leave," Connie told her, "Can I leave that up to you?"

"Sure" Rita replied.

Connie was about to speak again when her pager beeped. Looking down at the interrupting device she sighed, "I've got to take this, erm, Congratulations, both of you". The clinical lead stood up to leave, stopping briefly to give Rita a quick hug, "Good luck guys". And with that, she left the room.

Rita just stood there shock evident in her expression. She had been hugged by the Ice Queen; Connie Beauchamp. "Did that just happen?" She asked with a soft laugh.

"I believe it did," Iain said, equally shocked.

"I told you she wasn't all bad" Charlie interjected, "So I take it you two are a thing then?"

"Yep" Iain nodded,

"You kept that quiet"

"That was the plan," Rita said. Looking at the clock on the wall she continued, "I'd prefer it if you didn't tell anyone about the pregnancy yet"

"Of course" Charlie promised, "I assume you'll be telling them about the adoption, though"

Yeah, erm, the shift will be ending in 10, can you get the team together?"

"Sure, staff room?" Charlie asked,

"Yep" Rita replied,

"Thanks, Charlie," Iain told him,

"No problem guys" Charlie responded, opening the door. "See you shortly"


	4. Chapter 4

"Reets?" Iain called out, "Are you ready?"

"Just a second, I'm just putting my boots on" Rita called back.

Iain waited, or rather impatiently stood by the front door, he looked down at his watch, sighing he shouted out "Reets, come on, we're..." Looking up he saw his girlfriend stood before him, finishing his sentence he continued, however somewhat quieter this time "going to be late". Iain stared at the blonde in awe.

"Is it too much?" Rita asked, worried that her choice of outfit had been over the top. The said outfit being a royal blue dress that came to rest just above her knees, she had put on a long sleeved black waterfall cardigan and finished it off with her pair of camel toned ankle boots.

"No, it's perfect. You're perfect"

Rita blushed, before looking up at Iain. Iain had on a simple white shirt and black tie with his black suit pants, the weather being way too hot for him to survive in a suit jacket. "Thanks, you're not too bad yourself Mr Dean"

"Not perfect then?" He asked, pretending to be offended.

"Nearly, you just need a bit of work yet babe" Rita joked.

"Oh thanks"

"Your welcome" Rita gave him a quick kiss, "Now come on, we really are going to be late"

Grabbing his keys, Iain stepped out the front door, Rita following suit and heading down the steps. He made sure that the door was locked before doing the same and unlocking the car. Both got into the car, and Iain started the ignition. After making sure that they both had their seatbelt on and the road was clear, he set off to their destination. Their destination being the Holby City County Court as today was the day that they would find out if they would be able to adopt Henry...

 **A/N:** So I wanted to let you guys know that I am changing how I am going to be writing this story. After much thought I have decided that I am going to try to tell the story through more of a one-shot kind of layout and filling in the relevant details as I go, as I really do feel that I am getting too caught up in the details as I am going at the moment and that this is kind of boring me, let alone you guys. Anyway, I wanted to post this in a separate chapter to what I had already prepared (Chapter 3), hence why I have uploaded 2 chapters today. Oh, and for some reason I tried to upload Chapter 3 earlier and it didn't work, so sorry about that. I don't know what happened there!

On a more personal note, I am very happy to say that I am back on-line, I've been back for a few days now, though I have turned off the option for people to send anonymous messages to me on Tumblr atm just as a precaution in hopes that they will bugger off and leave me alone. Thank you to all who have shown concern for how I am, you really don't know how much this means to me and has really been the reason I have come back.

As always please review and let me know what you think. Love, Nat Xx.


	5. Chapter 5

Rita and Iain were soon sat outside the courtroom. They had spoken to the judge and now all that stood between Henry becoming their child was one man, one decision, one answer. Rita took Iain's hand in hers apprehensively, he reciprocated this, the pair seeming to grip onto each other for dear life. Neither of them spoke, not for any other reason than not knowing what to say. The looked at each other, their eyes speaking for them, each trying to reassure the other that it would be ok but not quite knowing for sure.

The door for the courtroom opened and the couple stood. They returned to the courtroom, their hands never parted. Both of them looked at the judge, eyes filled with hope, with wonder, and pleading for his answer to be "Yes".

"Miss Freeman, Mr Dean" The burly man spoke.

"Yes, your honour?" They replied simultaneously.

"After going over the case with the appropriate individuals I have reached my decision regarding the care of Henry Whitaker" He paused, "There are however a few concerns that I need to clear up before I confirm my decision"

Their hearts skipped a beat.

"The first being your pregnancy, I need to know that this will not interfere with Henry's care at all. Can you confirm that this?"

"Yes, your honour" Rita replied, "I, We, will never let anything come between us and Henry, our attention and care would be divided equally, I can say this for certain." She let out a breath.

"The second is in relation to your status as a couple."

Iain interrupted the judge, "Nothing would stop us both caring for Henry, even if we weren't together we would still love Henry, not that that is going to happen"

"Can you confirm this Miss Freeman?"

"Certainly"

"Well then, it gives me great pleasure to announce you both the legal guardians of Henry Whitaker" The judge announced with a genuine smile.

"Thank you so much" Iain replied with joy, he looked over to Rita, both of them displayed expressions of pure joy, they were a family, it was all falling together perfectly.

They were soon passed a certificate of adoption and told that they could go and tell Henry the good news. And this was exactly what they were going to do!

 **A/N: So, after like a thousand years, I have finally published something! It's a damn miracle!**

 **Sorry, it has been so long. Life got hectic and college is a nightmare, in an ideal world I would have a schedule like I had in the holidays but that's just not practical at the moment.**

 **I know this is a short chapter, I planned it this way! I am currently editing the next chapter so hopefully, I will get this up later tonight. The next few chapters are going to be more of a way of filling in some important details so that I can get onto the more exciting chapters. So please bear with me! I'll get there eventually!**

 **Once I have gotten to the point where the story is more one-shots, then I have a goal to at least update every fortnight. I'm only publishing this so I stick to it, so like I said, bear with me, it will get better (I think!).**

 **Nat Xx**


	6. Chapter 6

Iain knocked on the door before opening it. "Hello?" He called out.

"Iain?" A little voice replied, "Is that you?"

"It sure is!" He stepped into the room, Rita following.

"Rita!" The boy exclaiming excitedly. "You both came?"

"Yeah," Rita replied, picking the boy up and giving him a hug. Iain ruffled his hair.

"We have something for you Henry," Iain told him.

"You do?" Henry questioned

"Mmhm," Rita nodded. "Want to see it?"

"Yes" Henry stated matter of factly, "Please"

Iain produced the rolled up certificate from his suit jacket and passed it over to the excited boy.

"What is it?" Henry asked confused.

"Why don't you open it and see?" Rita suggested.

The boy fumbled with the paper. "What does a-dop-shun mean?"

"Well, it means that" Iain stumbled in an attempt to explain the meaning to the child.

"It means that you can come stay with us if you want?" Rita explained.

"Really?" Henry asked excitedly, "Like live with you?"

"Yes" Iain confirmed, "But only if you want to"

"I do," Henry told him, not missing a beat. He gave Rita a hug before reaching over to Iain. He took the boy in his arms. "Does this mean that we're a family?" He asked.

"If you want," Rita said with a smile.

"Awesome!"

Two days later Henry was allowed to be discharged, it would have been longer, but his new guardians were able to convince them that they were more than qualified to care for him themselves, so that evening they packed Henry's belongings and said their goodbyes to the staff that had been caring for him. Iain placed the bag in the boot as Rita strapped the youngster into his car seat before sitting down next to him in the middle seat and putting on her own seat belt. After getting into the driver's seat, Iain put the keys in the ignition and turned the key. The new family began the journey home, Iain taking extra caution whilst driving.

As he parked the car, he looked back into the rear-view mirror, he smiled fondly at the sight. Both Rita and Henry had fallen asleep on the drive home, Henry's hand was encased in Rita's, her head resting on the car seat. Pulling out his phone he took a picture of them, he wanted to savour as many moments as he could. He sent the photo to Dixie before climbing out and carefully (so not to wake him) getting his son from the car seat and waking his girlfriend from her slumber with a gentle kiss.

"We're home, babe." He whispered.

 **A/N: Hope this is soppy enough for you! I must say I did have a few strange looks from strangers when I drafted this on the train the other day. I hope to update soon.**

 **Please review.**

 **Love Nat Xx**


	7. Chapter 7

The new family had seemingly settled into their new life very well, a couple of weeks later, Iain had returned to work full-time whilst Rita stayed home to care for Henry until the school term ended and he could start school. So far, Henry had been good as gold, neither Rita or Iain had needed to 'discipline' him so to speak, and only had to gently remind him of the rules every so often.

Today, however, was very different. It was very obvious to Rita that Henry had settled in and was now busy exploring his boundaries and to top it off, she was now experiencing morning sickness. The two hadn't really done much spectacular throughout the day other than a rather adventurous game of trains. As it neared closer to the time Iain finished work and pick him up, Rita had bundled them both into the car, with the plan to quickly nip to the supermarket to pick up some milk and something for tea. This, however, was definitely not Henry's plan.

"But please" Henry pleaded for what felt like the hundredth time, determined to get the sweets that were in his hand.

"Henry, I've said no, please put them back," Rita told him in a stern confident tone, though internally she was the opposite of confident and felt like she was pleading for an eternity with the youngster to behave. She was worn out and wanted nothing more than to go home and go to bed.

"But I want them Rita" He whined.

"Henry," Rita said, "I've told you nicely, put them back"

Henry crossed his arms disobediently, "No!"

Rita issued the boy a warning, a warning that seemed to fall upon deaf ears. After the typical "that boy deserves a good smack" statement from a judgemental on-looker, she had just about had enough, she grabbed the sweets out of his hands and placed them back on the shelf. She grabbed his hand and marched him towards the check-out, ignoring his ongoing screaming and tantrums.

After hurriedly paying for the small amount of shopping, she left the supermarket. Rita continued to warn Henry that she wasn't messing around and that he was to behave, but he was not having any of it.

"No, No, No, No" Henry shouted ignoring Rita. He stamped his foot for added emphasis. Rita picked Henry up and carried him to the car. After dumping the carrier bag in the passenger seat, she wrestled the boy into his car seat and got herself into the driver's seat. It was only then that she allowed herself to break down and cry, something that she had been fighting all day. Resting her head on the steering wheel she continued to blank the on-going tantrum, Henry was safely buckled in, there was nothing more that she could do other than allow the youngster to calm down.

Around 10-15 minutes later and Henry had tired himself out, his cries, or rather screams, had died down to hiccups and eventually he had fallen asleep. Rita wiped her eyes and checked her phone for the time, 3 missed calls and 2 messages from Iain. She returned his calls, he picked up after the first ring.

"Sorry, we're on our way" Rita sniffed.

"Okay," Iain responded, detecting that something was wrong, he asked, "Is everything ok?"

"Yeah," She sighed, "I'll tell you about it later"

"Okay, see you soon yeah?"

"Yeah" And with that, they put their phones down.

After a quick peek into the rear-view mirror to check on Henry, Rita continued her journey to collect Iain.

After pulling up outside the ambulance bay Rita stepped out the car, leaning against the bonnet, she sent a quick text to Iain letting him know she was there. Shortly after, Iain came out of the building and walked over to the car.

"Hey," He greeted, he gently took a hold of her shoulders. "Everything ok?"

"It is now." Rita let out a sigh. "I think Henry's settled in now"

"How so?" Iain asked,

Rita gave him a one-word answer, "Tantrums"

"Ah" He nodded, "Over?"

"Anything and everything. This time was over sweets, though"

Iain looked into the car window as he wrapped an arm around Rita.

"He looks pretty calm now though" Iain joked.

"Mmm," Rita relaxed slightly into Iain's embrace, "I'm pretty sure there's more to come".

Iain took the keys out of Rita's hand. "Come on, let's go home"

 **A/N: I'm not even going to make any promises on when I am uploading anymore, hopefully I will post more during the upcoming College/School holidays but I am away on an education scheme, so no promises, sorry guys...**


End file.
